Sunday, 4 November 2012

Russian Shortcake

After making many sponge cakes – both big and small - with
rich buttercreams and frostings, I had a hankering for something simpler and
more biscuity this week. I must confess
from the off that I don’t know whether this is a Russian recipe or whether it’s
acquired that name somewhere along the line.
I can’t see anything about the recipe that screams “Russian” at me but
it’s as good a name as any and makes it sound more exotic than sultana spice
slice!

I was disappointed with my topping when I made it – it looked
ugly and I scrapped the first batch (my fault for not sifting the icing
sugar). I was ready to advise you to
make a simple glace icing instead...but then I tasted it. Yum.
It doesn’t look particularly elegant but boy does it pack flavour and it
also has a gentle sugary crunch to it which is surprising given its
butteriness.

The biscuit part isn’t crisp – I was expecting shortbread
(foolish, given that it’s called shortcake!) – it’s a halfway house between
biscuit and cake. This is the sort of
bake that you sit down with a cup of tea and think, ‘I’ll just have one or two’,
and then realise you’ve eaten half the batch!

An interesting recipe, wonder why it is called "Russian". I do think that there is something particularly satisfying about a cross between a cake and a biscuit. It takes longer to eat than cake, (useful for greedy people like me,who want to prolong the delight) but is less dry than biscuit,and more filling.

I would certainly partake of one or two slices of this with my morning tea. I'm rather partial to sultanas in a bake too and I would imagine that the flavour is great with the golden syrup and brown sugar! :-)

Help, CC! I made this last night, and the base turned out fine, really tasty (although I think flatter than yours, didn't rise - is it meant to?)

The topping was a disaster. It didn't seem nearly enough to cover the tin size and also it didn't spread it sort of just stuck. So I put it back in the pan to melt it a bit more (thinking in my silly little head that this would make it spread more easily) but that didn't work either and it started to turn into fudge! What do you advise?

I'm assuming you sieved the icing sugar - I didn't first time and ended up with something unusable.The topping is a bit thick and hard to spread - it's important to have it ready as soon as the base comes out the oven so that the heat of that works with you and lets you (just about) spread it out.

Thanks for your speedy reply, CC. I liked the overall result, so will try again when the first batch has been eaten up. I think maybe I was expecting it to cover like a thick version of glace icing and was therefore too impatient. If you found it hard, that explains why I found it much harder!

I am happy to say after 3 days of soaking the raisons didn't sink, they were so yummy I've made them again since. I made your rum and raison cup cakes last weekend and they were fab, I think you've got me addicted to baking with rum!

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